Chapter 39

By the time Matthew was due to the surface, the seven puppies were able to walk, or at least somewhat walk as they skittered and slid over along the ground and each other to reach him holding out his hands. He was more than happy to collapse on the floor, surrendering himself to the pile of wriggling rumps and flat, slobbery snouts. "You are all too cute! I'm going to miss you!"

Cujo had to get a part of the action, ambling from her nest to snuffle Matthew's face. He squealed and sat up, ruffling her ears as her pups bumbled around her and playfully nipped at her paws. "You, too!"

He would see the puppies again for a little bit when he returned, until the previous partygoers would arrive again to claim their interest on the hellhounds once they were old enough. Some gatherings had party favors such as noise makers, or candies. Ivan's had puppies. They were very promising to grow up to be excellent hunters and guards. They certainly helped tip the scales in his favor, and the other lords had accepted his request to revive his life and lands.

It was not just because of the puppies...

One of them galloped onto Matthew's lap to try to slobber over his face. Okay, fine, it was because of the puppies.

The demonic siblings had lingered by the doorway between the throne room and stairwell to watch him get happily mauled by gummy teeth and tiny paws. Both sisters were quiet, eying Ivan more than the hellhounds. Eventually, Matthew broke free and bounded over to press an endearing kiss to his lips.

"Hey, handsome."

"Your hair is getting long."

"Do you like it?"

"I like anything with you."

Natalia cleared her throat. Irunya giggled.

Matthew snickered in embarrassment. "Are we going now?"

"You are leaving your back pack here?"

"I'm coming back, aren't I?"

Ivan was especially happy at that. Irunya stepped forward, holding her arms out for an embrace. "We will be waiting for you, Matvey."

"You won't be waiting long. I'm not even staying away for a week." Matthew furrowed his eyebrows, realizing that he had to say that to his father. He pulled away from the she-demon, politely smiling from the moisture pooling in her eyes, and looked to Natalia. She gave him a curt nod.

Irunya tossed her arms around her brother. "You take care, too, Vanya. Be careful of the angels."

"I have nothing more to fear from them." Ivan pulled away to give Natalia a quick embrace as well, before guiding Matthew to the front doors. "Until then."

They heard Natalia's most affectionate words on their way out, "You better not get hurt, dickwad."

~.~

~BOING~

~.~

It was nearing noon when the pair popped out from the sewer, so when Ivan jogged onto the sidewalk with his luggage attached to his back, the small town's pedestrians stopped and dropped their jaws. He simply smiled, and kept walking.

Matthew waved at the onlookers. "That's one way to turn heads." He patted Ivan's chest, "Are you going to let me down now?"

Without a reply, Ivan gripped his legs for a moment before letting him slip onto the sidewalk. He laughed when Matthew playfully drummed on his back as if to belittle him, "Your father will be excited to see you again, yes?"

"Yep, so excited he's going to cry tears of sheer joy. You'll see." Matthew bounded across the front lawn, clearing the porch in one stride to grab the door knob. "Ready?"

"Uh...yes?"

Matthew opened the door, glancing down the empty foyer. Stealthily, he crept to the wide doorway to the kitchen, peering pass the frame to see Francis' back to him. His father sat at the island counter, hunched over papers scattered over the granite surface. It was too easy to creep behind him with his focus on his pen scratching over the light squawks of sneakers peeling from the tiled floor.

Just as Matthew was about to lay an unsettling hand on Francis' shoulder, Ivan asked, "Matthew, what are you doing?"

Francis drew a sharp breath, flinging himself off of his stool. He clamped a hand over his heart and groaned. Matthew shot Ivan a disappointed look, asking, "Why'd you do that?"

"Why did you think of creeping on me?!" Without waiting for an answer, Francis sighed as he wrapped his arms around his son's shoulders. "Silly boy. I missed you. Happy Birthday."

Matthew's eyes flew open as he reeled backwards. "It's my birthday? I could've swore it was still June." He gave Ivan a guilty look, but Ivan only appeared vaguely bemused, and casually propped himself against the door frame. Turning back to Francis, he uneasily laughed, "I always say they don't have calendars in Hell."

The first sniffle was only the beginning. Francis let his hold droop, and used the back of his hand to wipe at a watery eye. "Matthieu, your birthday was yesterday. You are becoming more of a man now, and look!" He pinched his son's jaw, "You're growing a beard to prove it!"

"More like, I forgot to pack a razor!"

"It looks nice! It should look nice. Beards run in the family!" More intense hugging, and Francis tossed a wink to Ivan. "I am sure there are no qualms against it, oui?" Ivan took that as a good idea to join the merriness, so he pushed from the doorway to pull the both of them to his chest. The Bonnefoy's exclaimed in shock before rocking side-to-side with one another, filling the kitchen with delighted laughter. Francis murmured to himself, "At least one of my boys are all right."

Matthew lifted his head from leaning against Ivan. "What do you mean, Papa?"

The arms around them weakened with a little, "Uh-oh."

Francis struggled with his words, his mouth bobbing up and down instead of unleashing something coherent. He clamped shut, taking a shaky inhale before trying again, "Alfred has not been home ever since a few days after you left. He has not even stopped in once."

Damn it, Alfred. "Papa," Matthew put on a smile, "you know how he is."

"Oui? I've tried texting and calling, but he never responded! When he gets back, I'm never going to let him leave this house again!"

"Oh, hush," Matthew gave Francis a good pat on the shoulders. "It'll be all right. We can go out and take a look around."

Ivan grumbled. Matthew put a finger to his lips as Francis lightly dabbed at the moisture in his eyes. Taking to the flair, big lug put in, "Yes, the angels are quite the foul little ones. Coming down, snatching people right up...it would not be hard to find him."

Despite the threatening tears, Francis smiled and nodded before giving his son a kiss on the cheek. "Be careful, you two."

"As always, Papa."

As soon as the front door closed, Matthew bounded off the porch and cleared the yard in cutting strides. "I can't believe it." He seethed, "You ass!"

"What is that about?"

"Alfred," was the curt reply. Matthew turned on his heel to storm down the street. "He acts so damn stupid all the time, and I know he's not!"

Ivan latched onto his shirt sleeve so he would not be left behind. "Are you sure? What if he is actually stupid?"

"Ha! I ask myself that sometimes."

"Matvey, where are we going?"

"I, uh...I'm going to try that motel Arthur's been camped at. If they're not there...well, let's get there first."

~.~

~BOING~

~.~

The motel was on the other side of town, small and blasé, as far as motels go. The pair scanned the numbers attached to the doors until they reached the one that supposedly was the right one. Who knows who would open the door? Matthew thought all motels were at least slightly suspicious. It may have come from watching too many horror movies while Alfred cowered behind a pillow. He rapped several times against the metal door.

Ivan and Matthew glanced to one another before staring at its divots and scratches. Ignored. Or unheard. Matthew knocked again.

"If Alfredo and the little angel are not here, where else would they be?"

"I don't know where Arthur takes him, honestly. It's not like Al answers his texts, anyway. Damn it!" Matthew slammed his fist as hard as he could, and as loud as he could. "Open the fucking-"

There was a muffled voice from the other side, sounding more amused than angry, "What the fuck!" The lock turned, and the door opened a tiny bit. A bright blue eye blinked, and then, the door flung open all the way. "Oh, my God! You're totally sporting a badass beard!"

Matthew tried not to make a face. "Uh, thanks, I totally am."

Alfred threw out an arm as another clutched a towel around his waist. "Come here and give me a hug!"

"Whoa, hey!" Matthew threw his hands up and took a big step back. Ivan followed suit. "Ugh! Don't hug me when you're not wearing any pants! Weird!"

"Sheesh, not my fault you came at a bad time. Close the door behind you."

Ivan did, and said, "Only I am allowed to do that."

"Ew!"

Matthew warned the both of them, "Shush!"

"Wow!" Alfred's face puckered as he walked by for the dresser. "You smell burnt, Mattie!"

Matthew rolled his eyes as he settled beside Ivan on the edge of the double bed, who put in, "I think he smells just fine."

"Yeah, that explains a lot."

A door opened, and Arthur emerged with a fluffy robe and a pissy scowl. "Alfred, we're going to need-" He got one look at the pair on the bed, and blanched, fleeing back into the bathroom. "Why did you not say there's guests in here, idiot?"

"Dude. It's Mattie and Ivan."

"Yeah, I've noticed!"

"They just came in here! Chill!" Alfred yoinked some clothes from the top dresser drawer and sent it into the bathroom. "And they want you to put clothes on!"

Matthew put in, "Both of you!"

"Both of us!" Alfred echoed, and hurried into the bathroom with folded clothes in hand, and the door shut.

Matthew pinched the bridge of his nose. "Nice to see he's all right."

"I wonder why your father panicked so much!"

"He does that."

"Maybe he thought that little angel had snatched him up, and neither of them would be seen again!"

Not paying him any true mind, Matthew said, "Oh, no..."

The bathroom door opened, and Arthur emerged without a mere glance in their direction. Alfred followed with a whistle, and stopped to grin, "Hey, guys, you won't believe it. Arthur's been at this motel for seventeen years!"

"Wow!" Matthew blinked in surprise, but Arthur worried about discarded clothes that did not make it to the wash basket. "Doesn't that get pricey?"

"No," was all the angel said.

Alfred swished a hand, getting their attention, "Apparently, way back then, he helped the owner of this place with family trouble, and now, he gets permanent residence! How cool is that?!"

Matthew and Ivan glanced around the cold and uninviting space. The former murmured, "Um, yeah, really cool..."

"Way too short," Ivan said. "There is no room to stretch your wings."

Arthur grumbled as he finished picking up the loose odds and ends around the room, and his knees popped. "I suppose that is something we can agree on."

Alfred finished patting his hair as dry as he would get with it, and flung his towel across the room. It made it to the basket, but only halfway. Arthur angrily swooped down and flipped it into the pile. "So, like, what's up? You guys need something, or just visiting?"

"Uh, yeah," Matthew gave his head a little shake. "Do you plan on coming home anytime soon or not?"

"Home?"

Arthur settled at the teeny dining table and rolled his eyes.

"Home! You know, with Dad? He won't stop crying because you didn't even take two seconds out of your day to send him a text that you're busy or on your way...if you were planning on stopping by."

"Oh, that..."

"'Oh?!'"

"Yeah, oh. We were...um..."

"We were traveling," Arthur put in. "Love, I thought I told you to make sure your father knew that."

"I-I could have swore I did!"

"Did you make sure you typed and sent the message?"

Alfred cringed. "Uh...maybe? Can you blame me? I was super distracted!"

Matthew knew he should have not asked, but Ivan did, "Excited about what?"

"Traveling!" Alfred performed jazz hands. "Like, all over! We went everywhere, man! We didn't even need plane tickets, either! Angel's just go whoosh!"

Arthur smiled behind a fist, but Matthew was not as enamored, "Cool. What about Dad? We both been gone since graduation without a single 'What's up?' text. Not to mention I just missed my birthday, and yours is in like, two days. So, are you going to stop by, or what?"

"Ugh, we just came back last night, dude. We were both tuckered out to do anything!" Alfred scratched at the back of his head as he sent a pout toward the dining table. "Still kind of am..."

Matthew kept his glare steady.

Alfred threw his head back and groaned. "All right, fine! I'm going to go now, okay? If I have to..."

"Yep! Let's go." Matthew leaped off the bed as Ivan followed with a victorious snicker. "Dad's waited long enough."

Dad waited a few more moments for Alfred to dilly-dally over to Arthur and plant his lips all over his face. "Right," the angel pushed his chest, getting pink. "Watch out for cars."

The door met its latch, and the trio crossed the parking lot. Alfred floated the whole way there.

Matthew gave him some sour side-eye, wondering if he ever looked moony and stupid like that. "You guys obviously talked about a lot of stuff."

"Oh, yeah. Heh." Matthew decided he did not like that permanent smirk on his brother, "We did lots of talking. We talked so much. We talked all over Europe, and we talked when we got back."

Ivan made a noise of confusion.

Alfred continued, despite the horror building on Matthew's face, "We were going to talk in the shower, but then, you-"

"Ugh! All right, that's enough!" Matthew threw a hand at him. "I get it! Ugh." Alfred snickered like the bastard brother he was. "I was wondering how the other angels took it when you shacked up. I heard Arthur was having problems about that. That's what I meant in the first place."

Alfred happily shrugged. "Nope! It's all good!"

Matthew shook his head. "Uh, okay. How's everything since we got out of school?"

"It's been great, man!"

"Really."

"Yeah, really!"

"Wow."

"What?"

"Where's the juicy details?!"

Alfred snorted, "Up your butt!"

Matthew rolled his eyes. "Up yours."

Ivan began, "Actually, it's up-"

"No! No!" Matthew held a hand up. "Don't. Even. Start." He glared at Alfred, daring him to snicker like a schoolgirl. "Did you take pictures when you were in Europe? What did you even do over there?"

"Uh, we ate cheese, danced to classical music, and kissed under the moonlight!"

"Huh? Did you really?"

Alfred beamed brighter than the Sun, shrugging again. "Why not, man?"

Matthew scoffed, trying to fight a contagious smile. "You freaking sap."

"Seriously? You're calling me a sap? Ha! Have you looked in a mirror lately?"

"Oh, shut up."

"You're a sap!"

Ivan giggled from behind, "It is true. Your family is full of saps, and you are in it, too."

Matthew knew someone who was going to sleep on the floor that night. "Hush up about that."

Alfred threw his head back and unleashed an ungodly squall, "My brother is a sap!"

Matthew gave him a shove, snarling, "Shut up!"

Loud enough for the whole town to hear, Alfred performed a little hop before running ahead, not learning his lesson to shut his mouth, "My brother is a sap! My brother's a super-duper-ooper sap!"

Matthew sprinted after him with murderous intent. "You ass! Get back here and I'll show you who's a real sap!"

Blehps:

Francis struggled with his words, his mouth bobbing up and down instead of unleashing something coherent. He clamped shut, taking a shaky inhale before trying again, "Alfred had gone out for a hunting trip, and has not been home in a few days."